Kurdish (Kurdí / کوردی / к’öрди)

Kurdish is a member of the Western Iranian branch of Indo-European languages.
Approximately 26 million people speak Kurdish in Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Syria,
Lebanon, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan and Afghanistan.

Kurdish began to appear in writing in a version of the
Persian alphabet during the 7th century AD.
However for much of their history, the Kurds have prefered to use Arabic,
Persian or Turkish for their literary works. The first well-known Kurdish
poet was Ell Herirl (1425-1495), and Kurdish literature started to become
popular during the 16th century.

Between 1920 and 1929 Kurdish was written with a version of the Armenian
alphabet in Soviet Armenia.

Armenian alphabet for Kurdish

In Turkey Kurdish is written with the Latin alphabet and in parts of the
former Soviet Union it is written with the Cyrillic alphabet.

When Kurdish is written with the Arabic script, Arabic loan words
retain their original spelling, though are often pronounced quite differently
in Kurdish.

Kurdish alphabets (Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic)

The alphabet labelled Latin 1 is known as Yekgirtú, and the one
labelled Latin 2 is known as Latin Kurmanjî. The Cyrillic alphabet
is known as Cyrillic Kurmanjí and the Arabic alphabet is known as
Soraní.

Kurdish sample text (Latin alphabet)

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another
in a spirit of brotherhood. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)